Chapter 1: Of confusion and trees.
A small fawn grazed lazily in a small normal forest clearing when a bright flash of light startled it into flight. It seemed the 'normal' clearing was no longer normal and now instead of a fawn there were five young girls.
"WHAT THE F JUST HAPPENED!" one of the girls yelled; she had short dark brown hair and deep brown eyes
"I don't know!" another snapped back; she had lighter brown hair, that was a bit longer then the first girls
"Where are we?" asked a girl with black hair that reached just passed her shoulders.
"In a forest, Susan dearest; a forest clearing" a girl with shoulder length blond hair and grey-blue eyes said
"Yes Jess, we know that!" the first girl snapped
"Then why did she ask, Melinda darling?" Jess asked confused
"Because… never mind!"
"Umm, guys what are we going to do?" the last girl asked she was the shortest in the group and had long brown hair.
"Well Jackie sweetie, we could sit here like damsels in distress or get up and start walking. I propose the later." Jess said
"Jess you read too much fantasy stories for your own good!" Melinda exclaimed "And I vote option one, there's no way I'm going to wonder around in some strange woods! Who knows what bugs and spiders live here! And walking is NOT my thing nether is dirt, bugs, spiders, or anything of that sort!"
"I agree with Mel, wouldn't it be better to stay here, someone is sure to come looking for us or… something, so if we stay here we're more likely to be found… right?" the second girl said
"I don't know Fern," Jess said, "What if no-one CAN find us? It's not like we're anywhere near any place we know. And if we stay here we have less chance of finding any civilization or food or water or any other essentials."
"Maybe you're right" Fern said, "What do you think, Jackie, Susan?"
"Umm…I think it would be best to look for a town or something," Jackie said and Susan agreed.
"Okay which way do we go?" Fern asked
"Well, as we don't know where we are it doesn't really matter! Well, that is as long as we don't start walking in circles!" Jess exclaimed
"Okay," Fern said and started leading them off
Jess walked at the back of the group taking the time to look closer at the others: "Umm, guys" Jess said after a moment
"Yeah?"
"Well do any of you feel slightly strange?"
"Um, yeah now that you mention it I do, why?"
"Why don't you touch your ears…?" Jess suggested
"OH MY F GOD! MY EARS ARE POINTY!" Mel exclaimed
"How the Hell is this possible?" Fern asked, shocked as she held a hand to her ear and watched Jackie who was jumping up and down excitedly
"This is so absolutely awesome!" Jackie exclaimed
"Umm…Susan are you okay?" Jess asked as she saw Susan sit down heavily.
"Ah… I think so… How can you be so calm?" Susan demanded
"Oh, I'm still in shock" Jess said calmly, perfectly serious
"No, you're insane!" Mel said
"Yes, that too" Jess said, still very serious
"Umm…so do you guys want to keep going or stop here for a rest?" Fern asked
"Keep going!" Jess said at the same time Mel cried "REST!"
They ended up having a small rest before continuing on their way until they reached a large river where they decided to stop for the night.
"Alright, who can remember outdoor ed? Setting up camp…?" Fern said, looking around vaguely.
"Well no tents under trees…away from river," Jackie said, counting points on her fingers.
"WE DON'T HAVE ANY TENTS!" Mel shouted interrupting her. .
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yeah," she said.
"We need shelter," Susan suggested.
"I don't see any buildings…" Mel said, looking around trying to focus on their surroundings.
"I can see some mountains in the distance…" Fern said, gazing beyond her.
"You mean those big grey blurry things," Mel looked again. "Hey, I can see the mountains now! My eyesight is improving! I can see what you guys see…"
"Oh, so you can see that big tree coming towards us…?"Jess said.
"Umm no…ahhhhhhhh there's a freaking moving tree!" Mel screamed
"Duh! Isn't that what I just said? You never listen to me!" Jess sighed, as she watched the tree come closer curiously. The others looked up at her words and began screaming when they too saw it.
While Jess watched the tree come closer the others were running away, though when Mel noticed Jess wasn't following she ran back, grabbed Jess's arm and started running away again.
"Hey! Ow! What's the rush?" Jess asked stumbling as she was pulled along "I was just looking I mean I've never seen a walking tree before,"
"Yes and hopefully never again!" Mel cried as they caught up to the others "DON'T STOP!" Mel cried as she saw Jess stop running, "THAT…THAT THING COULD STILL BE COMING!"
"Well I can't see it anymore and something as big as a walking, let alone running, tree would be hard to miss. Besides I HATE running! Why don't we try walking if you're still so interested in getting away from here?"
"Ok, Ok walking it is," Mel said, still nervous about getting away from that thing. "Come on then, let's go!" she finished pulling on Jess's arms and glancing nervously behind her.
The others stood in front of them, breathing heavily, eyes wide.
"What is going on?" Fern asked of no-one in particular.
"What was that thing?" Jackie asked
"A tree," was Jess's brilliant suggestion
"Of course!" Mel exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air, "it was a tree! Just your regular garden variety freaking walking tree!"
"Yes, but it's still a tree," Jess said with a frown
"What is wrong with you? We are in the middle of no-where with freaking pointy ears and walking trees! Not to mention the fact that we don't know how we got here!"
Both Mel and Jess had points, and they got weaker and weaker as their 'discussion' continued. The others, as usual, ignored their ranting and sat down to discuss their situation.
"We need to figure out how we got here, so then we can find our way back," Fern said, taking charge. "Can anyone remember where or what they were doing before we where, well, here?"
"I can't really remember just images of us standing together. I think we were standing, maybe..." Susan said, trying to help.
"I remember talking about Buffy…"Jackie said.
"What?" Susan said, curious suddenly.
"I swear I was,"
"Yeah," Fern agreed.
"Hmm?" Susan said, but was quickly interrupted by Mel and Jess joining their conversation.
"We've decided to head that away," Mel announced, pointing.
Susan sighed as they all began to walk in that direction, as the light began to wane.
"Where are we going?" Fern asked.
"Away from these big trees," Jess said, "Towards a river, if we find one again,"
They walked almost in complete silence, occasionally glancing nervously at the trees around them. The only one making any noise was Mel, who was rambling rather incoherently about nothing in particular.
"Mel shut up!" Jess hissed suddenly as they were approaching a clearing.
"Do you hear something?" Mel asked suddenly getting very quiet.
"Nope, you're just driving me insane," Mel glared at Jess.
"If you keep on making so much noise something will hear us!" Susan whispered angrily.
The clearing was much larger then first thought and was bordered by a small stream escaping from in the rock face not far from it.
"That is way too much running for one day," Mel said as she realized they were close to the very mountains she had had trouble seeing before.
Realizing how thirsty and tired she was she ran to the stream and thirstily drank handfuls of water from it. The others watched her cautiously, knowing Mel would probably be able to identify if there were any impurities in the water.
"Very nice, must be where they get bottled water from,"
"Sometimes you can be such a Crunchie Mel, you know dark on the outside blond on the inside," Jess laughed as the other girls ran to the stream.
"It's almost dark," Fern said, "We need to set up some kind of shelter before it gets dark. We also need food," she looked at the stream and raised an eyebrow, "Fish?"
"Nothing to catch or cook it with, and eww," Mel said.
"I'll see if I can find some berries or something while you guys set up the shelter," Jackie suggested.
"It feels like it's going to rain," Mel said, as she watched the others set up a makeshift shelter under the trees.
They lay upon the grass and stared up at the stars through the gaps in the delicately placed leaf-covered branches above their heads. Then it began to rain.
"Bloody brilliant," Jess muttered.
"Now this is f depressing," Mel said, as they began to get drenched.
A/N: This story is by my friend Mel (found under favourites) and I, based upon us, our friends and slightly insane imagination.
Keep watching this space for misadventures of other LOTR characters (which frequently come up when we were planning our story.)